2019 - The Good Stuff

December 31.   How did that happen so fast?  Not that the days ever feel like they go slow.  They move all too fast, but still, the end of a year from the first day of that year, seems like a long time away. And then on this last day of the year, you realize it all went so very fast and you barely had time to take it all in.  While December 31 might be a time when you think back it is also a time when you think ahead.

I was sitting knitting this morning (It will help organize my thoughts if I ground myself in what I am doing today) getting started on the first sleeve of my Greige (green so neutral it is beige) sweater.

It's at the stage where it might be called cute. Cute is a little appalling.  I am not the cute type.  I am aiming for  mature woman nice sweater, if you know what I mean.  I am aiming for vaguely stylish but mostly comfortable.  I hope it will get past cute with sleeves and the collar, which still needs to be decided on. Cowl or turtleneck?  Or indeed, ribbed edging.  I have no idea which way I am leaning just yet.  I have two sleeves worth of time to ponder it. 

Looking back to the beginning of 2018, I used Ravelry's brand new challenge feature.  I set out ten things I really wanted to get done last year.  Some were new and some were WIPs that I wanted to wear.  The only challenge project I am working on now that the end of the year has come, is the First Point of Libra Shawl where I am now about 4 garter ridges from the end of the colour gradients and on to the last section of the shawl. 

I already know I am going to love this. I did finish a few of the things I aimed for but when I saw there was no way to keep everything I finished in the year out of my own personal challenge, I lost interest.   

I wound yarn for the Dancing Reindeer shawl and for the Keynote pullover which were part of my challenge but that was as far as it went with plans.  When it came to actual knitting, those two great projects did not move me to knit them.  Not that I did not finish a lot of other things.  I did.   I finished 33 projects, more than in all but one of the other years I have been knitting but so many were small things again this year.  I loved knitting them, but I feel just a bit let down by the scope of it all.  Somehow, the more I try to set goals, the less joy I am finding in tally at the end of the year.  I am not going to focus on that feature this year. This year, I am just knitting.

All the small things the last few years is showing up in my wardrobe.  I am starting to notice a lack in the sweaters department.  I knit many sweaters and I wear them intensively.  I wear at least one a day and that constant wear and frequent washing does take its toll.  You saw that earlier this year with my Freyja sweater,  which was no longer fit to wear and is now well on its way to being a really great bag.

All that remains is for the bottom to be squared a bit and a lining sewn.  Those things are ready and waiting to be done.  

I still have enough sweaters to get by at home but some of them are things I only want to wear at home. Sadly, one of this years sweaters is in that group.

 It may be warm and new but it is too pilly and fuzzy even for my very casual standards to wear out very much.  I would have to de-fuzz every time and that is just not going to happen.  It's such a shame.

Whether I want to or not, I need sweaters in 2019.  So for 2019, a focus on sweaters for sure.  Nice cozy plain warm ones.  Sweaters to carry the heavy load of wear.  Workhorse sweaters that can do nicely when I am out and about and that will be good for about the house sorts of things too.  I also need to finish my green jacket so I can start my colourwork jacket, the Ram's Horn cardigan again.  One big needle project at a time.  

But I also want to knit lace in 2019.  I started a shawl plan in 2017 and knit the edging piece of one shawl.  That was it.  About 6 inches.  If it was blocked which it is not.  It sits by the TV taunting me.  I love knitting the music that lace can be so I really want to knit lace shawls in 2019.

I want to knit socks.  I struggled with socks this year, though in the end I did complete 5 pairs.  It's meant that I needed to break into the bag of finished socks and make heels to keep my feet warm and while I have a few pairs still waiting, I'd hate to have cold feet because I did not keep up the pace.  I want to knit a few patterned socks too, just the the pleasure of it. There are so many interesting ones.  So sock knitting for 2019 too. 

And wristwarmers.  I wear them every day, particularly at night while I sleep.  After I scalded my wrist, I couldn't wear the warmers for a couple of nights, and I caught myself always tucking my hands when I could.  They always felt a chill.  Now that it is more healed, I've been able to wear wrist warmers again and the ache is gone.  I need to knit more wristwarmers.  

And slippers.  And cowls and neck things.  And mittens.  I want to knit it all.  As usual.  This year I am not going to focus on any particular kind of thing.  I am not going to set goals.  I am not putting a focus on a project category.  That sort of goal setting seems to lead me to feeling like it wasn't enough.   

    
What I am going to focus on this year is knitting the good stuff.  As I dug through my stash the other day, I touched and felt so many good yarns. I dearly love my stash.  I pulled a few things and put others away but I did not fill my cabinet with yarns that I have plans to knit right away as I often do when I stash dive. I'd need a cabinet the size of the yarn closet for that because in my heart of hearts I do want to work with every single foot of it immediately.  Instead, I filled the cabinet with yarns that are inspiring, yarns for touch, for scrunch, for origins, for history, for fibre goodness.  I filled it with the things of my dreams.  Just looking at good yarns makes me want to knit them, and wear them and treasure the memory not just of having them in my stash, but to make memories of how they felt as I worked them and how they felt to wear. 

2019 is going to be my year of knitting with all the good stuff I have deep in my cabinets, and bins.  I hope to do some sweaters and I hope to do some shawls and some small things, but as long as I am working with yarns that are the exact right thing for what I feel like knitting,  I am working with my kind of good stuff.  Every yarn has a perfect project so every yarn I have is the good stuff.  It is all good stuff.  So long as I knit, I win.

Now that is a challenge I can look forward to.

Slippers

I'm really surprised to be sitting here feeling like writing.  It's unexpected and mostly because I have had a few days to get myself right with my world again.  Not that all the babysitting isn't fine, but that is their world not mine. In a few years, my little grandchildren won't need me so much and it will be I needing them.  They will be busy as is the way of growing children, so I will take it now and treasure it.

I've been missing slippers for a while now.  The leather bottoms of my socks turned slippers had disintegrated in the wash and though I had once knit heavy socks for the day that happened, I seem to need a pair of heavy socks.  I was loath to lose my favourite pair.   I yearned for a good pair of slippers. 

When I was knitting the mittens for Cassie's Mitten Tree, I found myself really liking the density of Kathmandu Chunky knit tightly.  It's a sort of dense yarn blend, and knit tightly, it was as if your hands warmed just looking at them.  I couldn't get the thought out of my head that this yarn might make really warm slippers.

I woke yesterday morning, feeling like the world was my oyster.  It may have been the Baileys in my coffee but the world was my oyster.  It was great but for one thing.  My feet were cold.  I usually just put on some socks, but not this time.  

This time, I grabbed the bag with the yarn, dug out some dpns, sorted out a pattern or rather a plan, and just got on with it.

I had read several patterns and the ones I kept coming back to looked so easy even if they were cuff down and needed sewing at the end.  I really liked the purposefulness of them, the ordinariness of them but I really did not want to sew, and I really did not want to have to graft the yarn if I didn't have to.  Plus a toe knit and finished the way it is in the pattern doesn't fit me well. So I took  The Simple House Slippers of Simone A. and turned them upside down.  Sort of.

I grabbed two strands of leftover Kathmandu Chunky and started with  garter toe,  rectangle in this instance.  It is the easiest way to start a toe and it certainly fits my rather squared off toes.  Then I knit around the garter stitch, just like I would for a sock till I reached my instep.  I started knitting back and forth then in garter stitch till the whole shebang was just at the back of my heel.  And then I did the same thing as a heel turn, a straight sided heel turn all the way up the two sides of the garter stitch and knit a handy little pull tab and voila.  Slipper.  And before the end of the day slipper two!      

And now my feet are warm.

It's not complete

I was pouring coffee this morning and glanced up and my eyes caught on the little beach scene I gave Brian many years ago. It seemed empty. If Brian is on a beach in his heaven then surely at Christmas, he would have a Santa hat to wear, nearby. 

At the moment he is out for a walk splashing in the water, cerveza in hand. It’s good place to be.

And One More

I have a little bit of sewing to do today and then I am off to babysit my house of little boys!  I only get over there about once a month or so so it always makes me happy to go.  I my or may not stay over night, though I do sleep much better in my own bed, staying over gives me a chance to shop in the city should I not be able to get what I want from shopping closer to home.  And no, it isn't christmas shopping so much as grocery shopping and a stop at a fabric store.  Well, okay.  I do need to get something for my little Emmett.  I have a lovely thing for him but wanted to get him some clothes too and that is easier in store than online. 

I am going to take  bit of a holiday from posting.  I work hard to try to keep this part of my day routine, and as I am sure anybody who may be reading it all can tell, there are times when I am not inspired.  I am going to give myself a bit of a break between Christmas and New Years.  Or at least till after my kids come to Christmas with me.  I am certainly going to be doing my year end post as has become almost a tradition around here.  Till then though, this blog is going quiet.

So, may your days be merry, may Christmas be wonderful, and I pray that the new year finds you peaceful and content.  Merry Christmas.

 

Of Babysitting and Knitting and Being in the Moment

I don't know where to start.  I have my trusty coffee.  I have knitting behind and all around me. I have coffee.  Did I mention that?  After all these weeks, babysitting is done now till the New Year.  Or at least the very early morning one.  I babysit tomorrow at my other grandkids home for a Christmas party that their mom and dad want to go to. The early one returns January 2nd and remains at least to mid January.   

Marcus and I had very busy day yesterday.  It wasn't supposed to be that long because mom did not have to work, but she came home and was exhausted.  She asked if she could sleep for a few hours. How could I not?  I stayed till Cassie was home from school which is my usual home time.  Marcus was very busy.  There are new episodes of Paw Patrol on Netflix (Bless you, powers that be) and he was absorbed by new stories and played up a storm.  It is fun watching him play.  Last week it was all Ultimate Firetruck and before that Shopkins as pup food and yesterday, it was mermaids playing with pups, and plenty of under water pup action for his Sea Patroler.  All in all, it means Grandma got a fair bit of knitting done.  

All of the ribbing on the back and a bit more than an inch of the front is done!  The front section has fewer stitches to it and has that little ribbed band down the front, so it feels like it knits fast.  It takes so little time to get to the band that it feels like you haven't knit anything and making it to the end of the row just happens without even noticing you knit.  Bless that 9 stitch break in the middle!

I am putting my thoughts into sleeves now.  How long should they be?  For practical purposes,  wearing things as I do, while working around the house or actively knitting,  it is hard to beat a 3/4 sleeve.  I really like not having to push the sleeve up.  On the other hand, wearing sweater layers as I do, rather than spending huge dollars on an ill fitting outdoors coat, absolutely requires long sleeves.  I know this from having too short sleeves on several things that I have layered, much to my chilly consternation.  I am very strongly leaning to having this be 3/4, simply because I see it as a sweater to wear without a shirt under it.  

Most of the things I have knit so far, have been knit to wear as a second layer.  Up until now, that has been what I needed in my wardrobe, but I am to the point where my famously old turtlenecks and other shirts are starting to die and I could use a few things that are stand alone by design.  If anything, I was thinking of this sweater as a piece to wear under other sweaters.  It isn't quite the plain turtleneck I was thinking of before casting on, but it won't be that far from it.  It will be essentially a first layer garment.  

I am delighted to be done the back and moving forward.  It's just a good place to be.  I was originally hoping to get this done to wear at Christmas, but it looks less than likely.  There are just too many things to do and too many places to go. 

I have to keep telling myself that even as the days are full, the only person who can make me feel too busy and overwhelmed is me. I am really good at thinking myself busy.  I do it at the expert level.  I  have to make a conscious decision to not think myself into busy, not to allow myself to be overwhelmed just by thinking.  If the things I want to happen don't, life goes on.  I will let go of wants.  I have what I need and I will live in the moment and enjoy what is and what comes, not stress over what is not.  I have to say it out loud to myself (good thing no one hears me) and at this time of year, I have to repeat it regularly. Right now, in this moment, I am and that is enough.  

Maybe that sounds weird to you but I have tried to live up to the things I expected for so long that just I forgot how to just enjoy what is.  It is taking much more practise than I thought it should (see, there is that expectation thing).  Life is what happens, not what we expect to happen, not what we plan for, not what we dream of.  Life really is this moment in time, not past, not future and we may as well treasure it because it is what we get.        

Today I think I will just stay home and get stuff done. I think.  There was that stash dive I was thinking of and ...  I could make a list here, but I won't.  I'm just going to let it happen.    

Milestones

I knit a little here and there while babysitting today.  It's always a crapshoot how much knitting I will get done with Marcus.  Each day is different and sometimes it is a row and others, I knit many many rows.  Today was in between, but it was a very rewarding in between.

I am thrilled to show you this!

The ribbing on the back! Okay.  I admit it's way more fun doing it and getting there than it is reading about it, but trust me, this is how to have a good time.  It's a little longer than I planned.  I managed to take it to 7 inches from the split rather than 6, but that is fine with me.  It looks so lovely.  I am really happy with the way this yarn is draping.

There still is a long way to go on this sweater.  There are 7 inches of front to knit plus front ribbing

 and two sleeves plus whatever collar I put on it.  I was thinking turtleneck or cowl neck.  It would look great with this yarn and I have lots and lots of yarn.  I just started the tenth ball as I started the ribbing.  In my dreams I am wearing this at Christmas but more realistically, I will wear it in the new year.  

I don't know why this point n this particular sweater feels like such  milestone, but it does. That isn't common, but it does happen on some projects.  It might be more normal to feel you reached a milestone at the end of a sweater, but this sweater is somehow different.   It isn't the end but it feels like the beginning of the end and that is something.

Two down.

It didn't quite go like I planned.  In the morning, I scalded my my wrists as I was pouring my coffee.  It would have been bad enough on one wrist but my other wrist got in the way of the cascading mass of hot liquid.  It meant that I was walking around all morning with a damp chill cloth around the worst of it.  Stash diving was out.  Sewing was too.  It remains  bit hot and red on one arm but there is no blistering.  There was only me whining.

So, I sat down and managed to get the grafts done on the two striped eternity scarves.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.  It was just a nice long graft in stockinette and I didn't mind doing it at all.

So, there are now just 3 gifts to finish up and that will only be an afternoon of sewing.  All the weight and rush of the holidays is done.  I can sit back and be comfortable now.

I counted up my WIPS on my Ravelry page and I only have 14 things on the go in some way or other.  Two of those are the dishcloth parade and the sock parade and they are closed each year. There are two things which I still hope to finish up in this calendar year, the Griege Sweater and the First Point Of Libra Shawl.  Going full guns on them and loving it.  And then there are the other ongoing projects.  They will be done in due course.  I love them all and do NOT intend to clear out any of them. 

The day didn't go like I thought but it did go and it went well.  Morning comes early around here so it is bedtime for me.

A Mitten Tree

Last week, my little Cassie was telling me about the school mitten tree, where the kids purchase mittens and at the end of the tree time, all the mittens are sent to one of the local family support places.  I asked if I could make some for her to give, and she told me that they had to be bought at a store.  On Thursday she came home, and told me she asked the library lady who is in charge of the tree, if her grandma could knit some. The answer was of course, and  she asked if I could maybe make some for her.  Friday morning at 6 a.m. she woke to find out if I had finished mittens for her.  

Sadly, I told her it takes a little longer than that.  But I am pleased to report this morning

that two pairs of mittens are going to be given to the mitten tree.  

The first pair

is made from some Rowan Cocoon I had for an experiment that did not work out.  It's a good warm mitten yarn.  they are just plain because a boy might need these and better to keep the options open.

The second pair

is made from Kathmandu Chunky.  This yarn, left over from my big first thing in the morning sweater  is a superb mitten yarn.  I don't know if it is woollen spun but it has a loftier character that suits mittens perfectly.  Great for little kids.

That is all so far.  There might be more kid sized mittens.  They take so little time.

I have everything more or less ready for Christmas.  I have a run of groceries to do, but there isn't any urgency on it. I have a bit of housekeeping to do.  I have a bit of sewing to do today and if that goes well, I am going to do a little stash dive.  It's a bit past time for one from a taking care of the yarn perspective but there are a few things I need to pull out for projects and  few things to tuck away.

It is also time to seriously start thinking about the new year which is galloping towards us.   NaJuReMoNoMo is coming up and I am hoping to get past two novels and maybe to three for January, and there is the first knitting project of the year to think about. I think I have always started  new year with something new.  It just feels right and I have done well this year with finishing older things and with meeting my goals.  Of ten goals from the start of the year, only 2 remain undone and one of those projects may very well be the new project.  So many choices of lovely knitting things.  I think I know what I want, but I'm not quite sure.  A meander through the yarn will settle it, I think.  

 So, lots to do.  lots to see, and a whole lovely day to do it in.  

Winning the Day

First goal of the day:  Find pants.  

Second goal of the day:  Put them on.

I won the day before I got dressed.  And to think, I do not see myself as goal oriented at all.  Ha. Putting on pants is a big step in starting the day and is really a pretty big deal.  But seriously...

Knitting is going along famously. It's boring as all get out, but it is going along.  I have opted to work only on the striped project the last few days, just to get it done.  There is a big graft on this and the purple one and since they are gifts, there is a deadline. 

Boy this is a bad photo of this pretty green. Still you can see the colour change in the last section and that means I am on the last little gradient bit.  Once the gradient is done, whatever brown is left is simply knit till the scarf is long enough to wrap it twice around your neck and it is time for the graft. 

So almost done.  All in all it's a pretty good start to my day.

As sweet as things are...

No matter how sweet  things are, no matter how dark things are, life goes on around us willy nilly.  I found out today that very good longtime friend has cancer.  She isn't the only one among the people  know, but she is the nearest and most dear.  I've been out of touch for a while with her, through no fault of either of ours, more just that time gets away from us if we are not careful.  I guess I wasn't careful enough.

Once Brian and I knew what he was facing, he made a point to say 'Today, I have exactly the same chance as any other person on the earth of dying'  Occasionally he added, 'more so than the people walking across the corner at 170th Street'.   And he was absolutely right for most of his short illness and that statement meant more to me than he ever knew. It  bolstered me in all the ways I needed bolstering and shored me up when I wavered.

So that is what I will hold on to again.  Exactly the same chance as anybody else.   I pray that her outlook is ultimately a good one.  I would like to keep her here longer just to go to lunch with again or to have coffee with.

Meanwhile, life goes on around us willy nilly and that is how it is supposed to be.

Trees, trees

A Christmas tree post today.  My knitting is boring and I'm pretty tired mentally, when I get home.  I don't seem to have the energy to get around to posting.  What I really need is a good dig in my stash to enliven my brain.

My bigger tree.  Its really not that big.  If pushed, even I with my 5 feet nothingness can still put the topper on.  It looks naked to me.  I didn't get the icicles on yet and they make such a difference, turning a well lit tree into a cascading wonder of twinkling lights.  Like lights, more icicles is better.

And my pretty little pencil tree.  This is the first time this has been up in a few years.  It's in a bit of a nook just at the entrance to the public space I share with the roomie, aka, the landlord, aka, son 2 or Keith. He says I am pushing it, putting it here.  Scrooge.  Burt I like it.

My favourite way to look at the trees is in the dark.  Both trees currently only have clear lights, but The red and white tree really needs some red lights and the big tree needs some gold lights, or blue lights, or maybe green lights.

But at night with all the house lights out is my favourite way of tree watching.  I put my tv to the fireplace channel and sit and just look at trees and listen to the crackle of it before I go to bed.  Some evenings it is capped off with a small glass of port or sherry just to seal that this is indeed a special time of year.

Those long lights sparkling across the floor remind me of my very young childhood and Christmas long past.  Christmas of doll houses and barns and furniture and tiny plastic bales of hay.  And how what regular people called chocolate macaroons became cow pies in my family.  

Saturday work.

I had lots to do on Saturday.  Besides starting a big clean, I knit.  I knit a lot.

I knit several inches on the body, getting well last the last increase round and then I had a decision to make.  Do I want a split hem or just keep on doing it in the round.  

There are several good reasons for doing it in the round.  It's fast to knit, always doing the same thing, zipping along like nobody's business. Ribbing at the bottom and then done.  There are reasons to not do this.  It gets a little bit boring.  There are a lot of stitches on the needles and without the increases to watch for, it can take forever to get anywhere.  

I opted for a split.

It is far too easy to stop a sweater too soon because I am bored to tears with that wall of stockinette.  Even on a nice project.  Even with a nice yarn.  Somewhere about row 732 or 955, I just cannot will myself to go on.  So I quit and live with something less than I hoped for.

I like this too much to have it happen here.  Splitting the hem at the side ribbing sections, seemed like the wise thing to do.  Last time I measured, I was at 4 inches.  I am hoping for 6 minimum before I start the ribbing.  This ribbing section will be about the same long as the shoulder saddle is wide.

Tomorrow back to playing with my kiddies.  Kind of looking forward to it.  Hoping nobody get sick again.

And so on

Even with the sweater in a sad state there is lots to knit.  I've got this one well underway.

I cannot knit on thus everyday, not one unending stream of it.  It has to be interspersed with other more interesting stuff.  But it is good knitting.  7 row stripes are always fun.

The other neat thing about this project is how the single brown colour changes as the greens go through their gradient colour changes.  Its very pretty and interesting.  

Since this is the only knitting I have with me today, this is what I will work on, but I can't wait till this evening when I can play with other things.

What is wrong with this picture?

What is wrong with this picture?

See how the lower needle just sits so free of any stress?  Note the loose stitches on the right hand side?

Yup.

Could have cried. Not really though.  This isn't a yarn that is particularly glossy or slippy.  I wouldn't say that stitches won't run but it seems to stay, more or less, put.  After the cable snapped, I very carefully folded it together and tucked it in its bag to await getting the needle sorted out. 

That is the hard part you see.  I have dozens of needles.  I have tips and cables galore.  Two different brands of tips and needles.  But I don't think I have anymore of this particular size.  Or I have one and it is wood and my gauge would change.

Somewhere among all the projects are the rest of my fleet of needles and I am just going to have to sit down and sort it out which one can take freeing from its needles best.  That is going to have to wait for the weekend. I just don't have the energy to dig right now.

It ought to be noted for posterity that when I refer to energy, I am referring to mental energy.  I am not so much physically tired as mentally tired.  I am really looking forward to this weekend. 

I am really struggling to find the time to write my blog.  In the past, I have often done it while I am out, but I really want to avoid that if I can this time.  It leaves me 2 choices.  Early early morning and a rush or evenings when I am wiped out mentally.

But life will happen and I am knitting rather a lot, a huge plus to all of this.

Grandkids are little so short  time, and I am very lucky that I live close to mine.  I have made my life be that I am in driving distance.  I am farther from one set than the other but both are in easy driving distance, and hour and a hour and ten minutes away.  Still,I miss so much about them that when I get to see them like this, all in huge chunks of time, I treasure it.

Granny is still looking forward to the return of her own life and the rhythms of a day that is just her own.  

A very forgiving Uncle Keith from last weekend. 

Another week closer to Christmas

That rather sums up my weekend, because on Friday evening, the kids came home with me.  this was for something that momand I had worked out long before her job came up.  We decorated the tree and played and then my wee guy wasn't feeling well and didn't want grandma to leave his side.  Poor thing.  I highly suspect he had what invaded my household for the month of November.  On the upside, I am cured!.  So much so that I went to get my almost too late flu shot.

All this non knitting was fine, because there was a lot of knitting through the week last week.

We have Griege.  I really ought to call this really nice looking sweater by a nicer name.

This is just about the truest colour photo I have of the yarn and the more I knit, the more I like it.  Cotton and wool is sublime.   Yarn, thank you for being so cheap, ahem, inexpensive that I couldn't stop myself from buying you.


On other fronts, I really need to whack myself upside the head for this one.  I was so worried that the contrast wouldn't be enough, but just look at how pretty it is.

This photo shows how very lovely that golden brown is, all those subtle colour variations at play.  I am about midway through the second colour. At the same event that I picked up this yarn, one of the little gift things that were in our event bags was tiny skein, half size of size of the mini size I purchased, which were half of a usual mini skein, of this second green.  I am going to knit that in here too.  Because I can. Too pretty too waste.

And then on down to three more ever lightening shades of lovely foresty greens.  I hope she likes it.  I know I do.

Another week closer to Christmas!  

Because

I've been spending a lot of time with small children and I get a lot of answers of 'because' to my not so serious grandma silly questions.  That is kind of how this one came about.

Because I have a purple striped cow ready and waiting for a graft before it is given as a gift, and because I need only one more cowl to make this a wonderful air of presents to give to my daughter in laws, 

I started yet another small project.  

 I bought the yarn five years ago at Interweave's Knitlab in San Francisco. Both the green gradient and the gorgeous golden brown are from Pigeonroof Studios  I bought them with an eye to make these exact eternity scarves and it is kind of shameful that I am only now getting to it.  Still one is ready to go but for grafting and that is a huge plus in my books for gifting this year.  The knitting doesn't take long and it is perfect for knitting with busy kids coming and going.  I expect this second one to be close to complete before the week is out.   

I've been hesitant about knitting these colours together.  It just didn't feel like it would work, but they do.  The brown has the loveliest sheen of gold through it.  It doesn't photograph at all well but in real life it is pretty darn stunning.  I am very pleased.  

As to being hesitant about the colours, silly me.  I'm not sorry because I have them to gift this year so it is a win for me.

The pattern I am basing this one on is the same as for the purple cowl/scarf, from the Striped Cowl by Matilde Skår.  I am using 3.5 mm needles so I cast on 20 fewer stitches than the pattern, but it looks great.  Good dimensions and the fabric is just fine. 

Another little bit of magic.

I had been trying to avoid the pile of knitting that always seems to grow beside wherever I sit. 

It's not really working.  The idea is that everything would be stored in the yellow storage stools you see here, but they always have something on top of them, and stuff just never seems to get back inside thestools.  Someday, I will be tidier. Apparently not today though.

You can see the yellow and blue from Marcus's sweater there waiting to be put in the box where things wait to be put away on the next big stash dive.  There are a few other yarns in the pile, once pulled as prospects, that were meant to be put away too.  

The other day, mostly because I wasn't happy with the sweater, I grabbed a pair of needles from the dpn container sitting on the side table and just started to knit.

And again, magic happened!  I started this project thinking wristwarmers with a striped cuff and colourwork up the hand but honestly, I love the stripes, seriously love the way these colours look as simple stripes.

I decided to just go with what felt right so stripes it is.  Just stripes in small thumbless wrist warmers, the kind that are perfect to slip over gloves for that little bit of extra warmth.  

Speaking of wristwarmers, have you seen this?  Cat Bordhi's Cat's Family of Fingerless Mitts     .  I heard about it on the Knitmore Girls podcast and immediately took a look. Cat Bordhi always is interesting and this ebook of folios is her own special magic!

 I wear wristwarmers to bed every night.  I am not sure if I grip my hands tightly at night from cold or if it is from tension, but the wristwarmers at night make me sleep with the palm of my hands open and relaxed.  Instead of generally achy hands, I have hands itching to knit, already warmed up and rarin' to go.  I am wearing the Log Cabin Mitts constantly and I could really use another few pairs of something.  

Cat's book of wristwarmers is perfect.  They all have the longer cuff up the arm that seems to make such a difference to my hands and there are patterns in various weights of yarn, with lots of truly speedy DK and worsted weight designs.  

As soon as I bang out a few of these little joyous squares of stripes, I am going to hit the leftover yarn bin and knit me some yummy cushy Cat's Fingerless Mitts!

A sweater update

Next up a Greige sweater update.

When I last spoke of this sweater, I was feeling like the neckline was going to be a disaster.  Feeling that, I sort of stopped knitting on it for a few days.  I would take it out and look at it and stuff it back into the bag in disgust.  One morning I slapped myself upside the head and shook some sense into myself and I started knitting it to the point where I could try it on.  I had already knitted it to the underarm join, it just needed a few more rows knit to keep the fabric more stable before a try on.  And then I tried it on.

And...magic!

Honest magic.  It might look  little bit hinky and scrawny in the picture but the fit is really nice and the neckline?  Perfect.  I'm not sure what made it look so large and wide before the underarms, but it isn't.  I hold out big hope that this might end up being a very, very good sweater.

And just a little show of the detail.

The ribbing detail is on the shoulder straps and down the sleeves as well as this narrower strip down the front.  I am doing the same narrower band of ribbing down the side  'seams' at the underarms and I might even do it in the undersides of the sleeves.  It is exactly the right thing to combat any stockinette boredom and it gives the eye a strong vertical element to focus on.  

More and more as the fabric slowly grows, the green grey beige-ness of this yarn gets better and better.  Who knew I would be so happy with what it pretty much a non  colour though, now that I think of it, I have been really connecting to natural shades the last few years.  Rather than being  a natural colour of sheep, this colour is the colour of  shale and mud cores from deep down in the ground and is as natural a shade as any.  It's just a little unexpected.

First Point

After a very crazy last week getting settled into a new routine, I am doing much better and feeling much more collected and contented.  And I am no longer checking the clock all night long in case my alarm clock doesn't go off.  I am actually sleeping!

And there is knitting. Lots of lovely knitting.  Some days there is more knitting than others, but in general, lots of knitting.

This week, photos!  

First things first.  I have been steadily working on my First Point of Libra shawl.  It is usually what I take with me when I go out to knit and chat.  It isn't difficult and this section only has one thing to do other than knit each stitch and that is an increase every second row.  For all its simplicity, it's a lot of fun.  Working this colour section makes the whole thing come alive.

 Isn't that just stunning?  There are 4 or 5 more rows of the rich amber colour remaining and then a section of red and then on to what I think is the final element, the outer border.  It actually may be two outer sections. I haven't read the instructions for that part yet but two would probably follow what the pattern already is doing in its very modular fashion. 

This was originally a mystery knit long and you can see that in the construction and knit order.  It has been a very interesting path to follow though, and I love the result. 

This shawl was one of the things I challenged myself to knit this year. Some of the other goals have not been met, or have been put aside for different projects, but I am so pleased that this one is one of the ones that is done.   I have thought so much about shawls this fall, about wearing them more, about storing them in a better place, about knitting more and I am really looking forward to having this striking piece wrapped around my shoulders keeping me cozy and warm.   

Top Down

My daughter in law is now on nights, but my duties are still there to be done.  I still start at the same very early time, but once we are all settled into this, I ought to be able to leave earlier.  That will mean the world to me.  Instead of being gone for 13 hours a day,  I should be home by 3.  And that would be sitting in my chair knitting home.

Till then, there is knitting, though not nearly as much as the day before.  I jined below the underarms but just.  Two rows hardly counts.

I love the way this looks as fabric, though I am not so sure about the sleeves. Or the neck.  It may be that I have to start all over again.  I will try it on after I have a enough rows t make it sturdy t the underarms.

I may never knit another sweater from the bottom up and more and more, I doubt I will ever knit a sweater in pieces. Seriously think of it.  You knit the whole thing in parts, and you have to sew it up to even see if the thing comes close to what you want?  I don't think that is for me.  Or knit the whole bottom up to the underarms,which is an awful lot of time in my case, and then you need to adjust the top?

I've put in such a small bit of time, that even if I have to rip back to the start, it isn't a big deal.  Top down is far more intuitive if your body requires a lot of pattern adapting.  It works with the smallest amount of kitting time before you know if it will work.  

 I'm going to add that if you are hesitant, check out Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Top Down Sweaters   The book is in a class of it's own as away of getting you started.

And I didn't think I had anything to say today.

Another busy day

It was just Marcus and me today.  We had to get Cassie off to school but that was about it.  She is big now, and can walk herself with the boy from across the street.  No streets to cross.  Just park nd school playground. She feels very grown up doing it.  It was great.  

Their mom will be moving to night shifts, which work a bit better for me.  I ought to be able to leave a little earlier at the end of the day, though I still do have to get up and be on the road stupid early.  Their dad leaves for work at 6 and their mom wont get home till 8.  So grandma has to get up before 5 to be there on time.  It's been  a while since I had to do it for work rather than for pleasure.  The difference is that pleasure at 5 a.m. includes coffee.  Coffee doesn't arrive till much later the other way.

I did a lot of knitting today.  Marcus was very busy playing with his pups and he had a whole story he was playing that did not include me most of the time.  I knit an entire ball of yarn on the green grey sweater. One more ball and I will be just past the underarms.  I have plenty of markers and stuff like that to get past there if I can, but if it doesn't happen, no biggie. 

I am already dreaming of collars.  Possibly a cowl turtleneck sort of thing. I was going to just do a wide crew neck but I think wide is a little wider than I wanted. We shall see. Just like I thought, once it is knit into a fabric, I love the colour  It's fantastic!  

Photos tomorrow.  I was lazy today and now as things start early here, I am off to sleep.  

Lost in the land of new knitting

I found myself with a whole day free with nothing planned or scheduled and that was as liberating as getting the kids things done.  There was nothing for it but to cast on another sweater.

Ever since I finished Granito, I thought about knitting with a 50 /50 cotton and wool blend I had in my stash. It was another deal from back in the day when Elann was a discounter and sold on their own website rather than through Amazon and when I had the funds to do as I wanted with yarn.*

 

Its grey green is so utterly dull, that when I first got this colour on the very, very good sale it was on, I was a bit put out that I had spent a whopping thirty five dollars on 20 balls and what on earth would I ever want to knit with it?   It's a pretty dull colour.

After Granito, where I very seriously underestimated the power of a nondescript yarn, I started to think very seriously about this yarns slate greigeness.  I wondered if it would do the same thing that the blue grey spotted stuff did on the Granito sweater.    I wondered if it would go from drabness to wow once it was knit and worn.  I thought I would test the theory and sat down to knit.

I did not want to have two very plain sweaters on the go at the same time, so I made a few plans before casting this one on.  I need basic sweaters, and something that will not take a bunch of math or thinking to knit but I also do not want to be bored to tears with it.  I will have a whole bunch of knitting time ahead of me while watching the kids.

 I started with saddle shoulders in a simple ribbed pattern.

I am keeping that rib going all the way down top of the arms and I put a narrower band of ribbing down the center front of the sweater, just to keep me on my toes.  I think there will be narrow bands of ribbing at the underarms too.  It will be a great way to keep my head busy instead of feeling like the two sweaters are a sea of stockinette.

This yarn is a nice DK weight so it is moving right along.  Now all I need to do is knit and enjoy the process of two things to become lost in, in the land of new knitting. 

*(I never ever forget how lucky I was and every time I knit I am thankful that I was so blessed.)            

It's wonderfully freeing to be done with knitting for the kids.  In a lot of ways, my knitting is pretty selfish in truth.  I do it for me mostly, but a lot of that is because knitting is an exploration of the world for me.  

I grabbed some yarn and just began.  There really wasn't a plan.  I just needed to begin.  It was a driving urgency to just knit.  

And so, I did.

The yarn is an Elann special deal from a long time ago, Filati Fine.  It is a fine fingering weight blend of acrylic, wool and a little nylon, I think.  It's not a fancy sort  of yarn yet I do love it.  It is soft and strong and the prettiest teal.

The plan is to make a simple, basic sweater,  a cardigan and I mean to use some pretty square handmade buttons that I got in Vernon several years ago.  I have a lot of yarn so I think this sweater is going to be a little flared and a little lace under the arms.  

Mostly it is a plain fingering weight sweater.  With a bit of determination I will finish it faster than my last fingering weight sweater.

  

Changes and Finishes.

Funny how one day you are sitting there glorying in your time and place even if your Chase sweater isn't going really well, and then you have no time and the Chase sweater is magically complete.  Go  figure.

My daughter in law got a temporary job with or at the county.  No idea how long it will go, but for a few weeks at least.  And with 12 hour shifts, it can be a really long day.  Grandma will be pinch hitting for mom till mom gets the night shift and then grandma services might be called on to fill spots here and there.  I should know more tomorrow.  Today and tomorrow are going to be long days.  It's nice though.  It is reading week for the kids so I get to spend lots of time with them.

But because Cassie and Marcus are growing like weeds, they don't need me to monitor their every move.  Grandma got in a lot of knitting time.  Well finishing time, really.

The Paw Patrol Chase sweater is done.  All that needed doing today was sewing the pocket on and two little buttons.

   

It's a simple badge for all that it caused me huge trouble (in my mind).  I had to let go of perfect and just go with what I got and I think it is just fine.  Marcus says he is never going to take it off, though he did take it off at lunch so he wouldn't get it all sticky from pancake syrup.  He loves it and that is all that counts.

He wondered if I could make him hair like Ryder. Or maybe a helmet like his Ryder toy. And so it goes.

I also took a photo of Cassie in her purple sweater.  

It's the smallest bit big for her, but honestly, I wanted it to be the kind of sweater she wore in place of a coat to school as much as anything.  Her mom said she wore it lots already and Cassie thanked me for the zipper.  She likes that it does up so easy.  

There was one more sweater in my bag,  pretty little purply things that was really more blue than purple.

I sorted out the edge problem, a wee blip where I joined the beginning and the end of the icord and then had her try it on.  I ended up knitting the sleeves about an inch and a half longer. My wee girlie has grown somewhat since August...eeeeeeep.

I ended up sewing the fronts together to make a faux cardigan pullover and she is very happy with that.  I just didn't feel it was right for a zipper and she didn't want buttons so this seemed a good option.  It needs a good wash to set it all and smooth it, but it is done and when I left, she was wearing it so she could show mom when mom got home from work. I even have a photo for my project page with her modeling it.  It's on my phone, which is dead and currently charging.  It will wait till tomorrow.  

Honestly, this cleans up the projects on my WIP list.  I only have 12 things now, ;)  but two of those twelve are a sock parade and a dishcloth parade.   I don't count those.  So ten projects that are in progress.  It feels like it is time to seriously think about something new but then, when did I ever not?

I have no idea what I will work on tomorrow.  Maybe the green sweater?  Maybe the First Point of Libra shawl?  I don't know.  I threw a sock in my bag and if I can't sort anything else out that will be good enough to be getting on with.   

What comes with tomorrow comes and it will all be good.

I've got trouble

wait don't run, 

this kind of trouble is lots of fun.

From that old TV ad for the Trouble game.  The other thing that comes to mind is Daphne Zuniga as

 

Princess Vespa from Spaceballs.  My mind is stuck at trouble.

I am not having a good time with the Chase sweater Pup Badge. Everything looks less than nice so far.  I have two more things to try and boy do I hope one of them works  and looks nice because this is putting  pall on all my knitting.

I did knit just past the underarm on my Green Jacket sweater and I have the sleeves picked up and am on my way down sleeve one. I knit a litte on some socks.  But that is sort of where it all stops and it kind of breaks my heart.  

I'm doing all kinds of knitting related activities.  I bought two patterns, one for a hat and one for a star, one of my things to try for the Chase sweater.   The hat is actually a book of hat patterns.  I waited for a long time for the pattern to be sold individually, but it seems it isn't going to happen. Plus I know what I am doing for the Myrtle sweater (the Kate Davies sweater from last week where I was debating single pattern or book) and will deal with that shortly.

I am going through my WIP bins, removing yarn I am not actively working with at the moment and putting them in my yarn cabinet, in an effort to be able to keep all the active knitting in said WIP bins.  

I am putting away needles.

Everytime I start or finish a project, or projects this seems to happen, the knotty mess of needles that need to be put back in their pouches, pile up as I try gauges and play with needles types and tips and lengths.  It only takes a minute to put them away.  The holdup is that it takes a flat surface with nothing else on it and that seems to be rare here. The top of the WIP bins usually works, but just like my long gone coffee table, there is always stuff on the tops of them. Todays flat empty surface is the loveseat.

Avoiding the issue is my superpower.

One way or another the Chase sweater has to move forward today.  If it waits much longer my sprouting little boy will have grown right out of the sweater, which would mean I have to start all over again.  

So, I am going to gird my loins, buck up my courage, put on my big girl panties, do some serious adulting and get a badge done for the Chase sweater and the little boy who is waiting.